Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Don’t look for the film version of the Sebastian Faulks James Bond novel published earlier this year. Daily Varietyreports that Eon Productions, who have had a hand in 22 of the 007 movies that have made it to the big screen thus far, have passed on bringing Devil May Care to film. And while it might appear that Eon’s shake of the head would mean opportunity from other avenues, that won’t be the case here. Says Variety:

Bond’s just not up for grabs. Eon parent Danjaq has controlled the copyrights and trademarks to the franchise for films since the 1950s, locking out anyone else from producing pics featuring the British spy, with the exception of Warner Bros.’ “Never Say Never Again” in 1983. It also has a major role in choosing who distributes the films, which MGM will return to producing after “Quantum of Solace” unspools in November.

Even if producers could acquire the film rights to “Devil,” jointly owned by the Ian Fleming Estate and Faulks, they wouldn’t be able to use the James Bond name, his 007 call sign, the James Bond theme or gun-barrel sequence, for example.

But Variety tells us that Eon didn’t pass because they didn’t like the book. Rather they got cold feet around the Cold War backdrop:

Eon toppers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson claimed that the book’s 1960s setting made it less desirable as a Bond pic property, at least for now.

“We love the book, but because it is set in the 1960s, we haven’t considered making it in the near future,” Broccoli and Wilson told Daily Variety.

The Cold War-set adventure takes place in 1967 and revolves around the international drug trade that takes Bond to Iran, the Caspian Sea and Russia and features a villain with an oversized monkey’s paw for a hand.

But don’t think that will leave the world lacking for new Bond films. Look for Daniel Craig, Mathieu Amalric, Judi Dench, Gemma Arterton and Jeffrey Wright in Quantum of Solace, scheduled to hit a theater near you on November 7th.